As you must know by now, H has left me here in Cali. Why did I stay behind when there were clear signs that H had to get down to Ecuador as soon as possible? Well, there are a pair of custom-made shoes coming here to Cali (or at least so they tell me) and I had a few loose-end (boyfriend) details to deal with. This situation has largely left me overly dramatic, lonely, sad, and less fun (and people here in Cali do not shy away from telling me this!).
Once we found out that she was leaving, we had about a week left to organize our lives before H headed south. We had been staying in the south of town with an English friend waiting for our old room to become available after my birthday trip to the Caribbean, but since we were separating it didn’t make sense to return to San Antonio. So we stayed on and made sure to take all the pictures, and go to all of our favorite dance spots around Cali in the week we had left (all the while enjoying some of the best company while we broke into impromptu musical numbers, discussed anything that came to mind, and watched Shark Tank!).
We said goodbye to the old man who owns our favorite dance hall, H took pictures that she had kept forgetting before, we got our feet smashed and stamped on in overcrowded groups dancing salsa, we went dancing in a water park, and we took the time to meet up with our people. However, I only took pictures of our last night at Las Brisas.
Doesn’t H look fancy in her second-hand dress and heels? Out there like a salsa champ! There were a lot of hugs, laughing, and rum (because when in Brisas, one drinks rum). Boyfriend took the time to make jokes with H whenever they weren’t out on the dance floor (which, with these two, is very rare!).
H would always laugh with him,
and get a hug when they realized how much they were going to miss each other.
It was very precious. I also caught a couple of group photos
even with our roommate!
But the lighting was terrible, I was sad and drinking, and just didn’t want her to go. Instead of trying to get a good photo of everyone there, and quite a few of our Cali people had come out, we went back to our home in the south and had celebration banana cream pie with ice cream. Ice cream not defrosted? No worries! Just use a kitchen knife to get it out!
I packed up her food for the next day, a 36 hour traveling trip with little to no stops and many buses, and now she’s gone.
But we all miss H here in Cali. Every time I meet up with our people here, everyone can feel it’s just not the same without her. We all mention to one another how she is missed. But I still have our English model-looking friend (who has saved me from myself multiple times by seeking me out with cheese crack and complaining so we can both feel better), our Santa Cruz yoga teacher (who just had a very enjoyable birthday party), our English roommate (who allows me to come over to bake and watch documentaries when I want), and my boyfriend (who combs through my hair for hours each night trying to get nits out).
Oh, that’s right people! Not only have I been left here in Cali, but I was also somehow found to have lice in my hair… sigh. There have been no sightings of the actual creatures crawling around in there (as of yet), but there are enough eggs (some live, but many, many old dry dead ones) to have and entire lice army. My first experience with lice? Never again, thank you.
So poor boyfriend has had to live with me while I’m upset and lonely because H has left, while I’m carrying bugs around in my hair, and oh, by the way, it is also a full moon… So far, he’s hanging in there like a champ. He even took me to a hot shower this weekend so I could finally feel clean after this bug incident (it was designed like an Egyptian tomb, as all things really should be, no?).
So now I’m just waiting on these shoes and biding my time, really. I will post with pictures as soon as I have these missing devils in my hot little hands!
H
G
R:
Rule #2: Don't Die. 
Gross! Bugs!
So gross 😦